Manu Dibango, African Saxophone Legend Dies of Covid-19
Dibango - best known
for his 1972 hit Soul Makossa - is one of the first global stars to die from
Covid-19.
The 86-year-old
fused jazz and funk music with traditional sounds from his home country,
Cameroon.
He collaborated with
numerous artists over a long career, including US pianist Herbie Hancock and
Nigeria's Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti.
The Cameroonian
musician filed a lawsuit in 2009 saying Michael Jackson had stolen a hook from
his song, Soul Makossa, for two tracks on the world's best-selling album,
Thriller. Jackson settled the case out of court.
“It is with deep
sadness that we announce you the loss of Manu Dibango, our Papy Groove,” a
statement on his official Facebook page read.
His funeral will
take place in “strict privacy”, the statement read, asking instead for people
to send condolences by email and adding that a tribute will be arranged “when
possible”.
Top African
musicians Angelique Kidjo and Youssou Ndour have led the tributes.
On Twitter, Kidjo
shared a video, recorded two months ago, of her rehearsing the end of Soul
Makossa with Dibango.
"You're the
original giant of African music and a beautiful human being," the Beninois
performer wrote.
Ndour called the
Cameroonian a "genius" on the saxophone and described him as a
"big brother, a pride for Cameroon and all of Africa".
Both Ndour and
Kidjo, along with other stars such as Salif Keita, Papa Wemba and King Sunny
Ade, worked on Dibango's 1992 album Wakafrika.
Speaking to the BBC
in 2013 about how he wanted to be remembered, Dibango said: "When you are
gone, it is finished, it is not up to me to say, 'I want this.'"
He grew up in a
religious Protestant family, the AFP news agency reports, and his first musical
influences came from the church.
"I'm a child
raised in the 'Hallelujah'," he is quoted as saying.
But he drew on many
influences and was well known for his eclectic style.
"I play
different kinds of music before playing my own. I think that that's very
important to play other people's music," he told the BBC in 2017.
"As you are
African they expect you always to play African. Forget that. You're not a
musician because you're African. You're a musician because you are musician.
Coming from Africa, but first, musician."
He was sent to high
school in France, which is where he learnt to play the saxophone.
The
first tune he performed, in front of fellow students, was When the Saints Go
Marching In, he told the BBC.
To
the disappointment of his father, Dibango failed his high school exams and took
up music performing in nightclubs in Belgium instead, AFP reports.
FROM
.bbc.com/news/world-europe
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